I'm sitting here waiting for my wife to knock off work in an hour. Just finished getting us ready to roll. However, even with the trailer always "semi ready", I have still spent 3 hours out in the driveway.

Grabbing pillows
Checking air pressure
Hooking up
Getting the dog stuff together
Packing food
Where did I put the camera?
Grab some firewood
Air in the bike tires
Kids, do you have the games you want?
Taking the GPS out of the car and mounting in the truck.

And on and on and on.

We really do keep everything we can in the trailer. We even spent a half hour each evening through the week pulling odds and ends together. But it still takes a minimum of 3 hours on launch day! I'm tired before we leave!

I imagine full timers don't have this concern. But how long do you weekend warriors spend preparing? Am I expecting it to be too easy?

We have most of the stuff loaded all of the time but I spend an hour or two a couple of days before leaving loading clothes and last minute stuff and turning on the fridge if it is not all ready running (depends upon how recently we were out). The day before the food gets loaded. The day of, I can be ready in 30 mins. or less. Just have to put in the dog crates & dogs.

Before we went FT.....turn on fridge couple days before departure and then pack the rig over the next couple of days.
Hardest part was getting sleep the night before departure.......too much anticipation!

This check-list includes having two empty storage boxes to put the odds & ends like table top tray of each of ours usb's, books, pencil box, etc. Also my small wind chimes which hang in the RV from ceiling hooks, - it starts in the bathroom, next bedroom, including "close closet doors", then to furnace/ac to turn off, antenna down, windows closed and curtains drawn, etc.

When we had kiddos at home we would give each a storage box and what fit in there after their clothing was packed, they could take, in addition they could take a stuffed animal, their pillow & sleeping bag. This took care of any arguments for us.

We always allowed plenty of time to add food, etc. the day before we left on a trip.

For now we will not travel without our "Camp Departure Check List".

Also have an "RV Camping Checklist" from http://ChangingGears.com, this checklist includes other items which are handy, i.e., binoculars, folding chairs, etc. which the weekender might not have already packed, as we do.

We keep the rig loaded except for the fridge during the summer. I'll turn the fridge on the night before and less than an hour in the morning and we're on the road. Even when we are leaving a camp ground if we're on the road less than an hour most of the time. We can unload and include washing the rig in about 3 hours.